Most of the Chuvash still live in villages (yal). In the northern regions of the Chuvash ASSR, which are more ancient in terms of settlement, settlements are usually located in nests, often including up to a dozen villages. In the southern part of the republic, settled later, the distribution of villages is more even. The names of most northern villages have the prefix pasa, which means the end, or settlement. In the southern regions, there are no names with such a prefix, but many villages are settlements from ancient northern villages. Here they bear the names of old villages with the addition - New, Field, etc. The southern villages are usually larger than the northern ones (sometimes up to 500-800 households; in the northern ones - 80-100 households).
For the old Chuvash village of the northern regions, division into ends is characteristic. Often this was due to the fact that the relief is heavily indented by ravines, and the ends were called parts of the village located on separate spaces between ravines. Often the ends stood out and: with even relief. Probably, these ends were groups of relatives' estates. The northern villages are also characterized by twisted streets, as if laid between separate, disorderly scattered nests of estates. In our time, in connection with the unfolding mass housing construction in such settlements, new straight streets are being laid and old ones are being re-planned. In the southern regions, even before, street planning prevailed, without ends, more often along the river.
Chuvash estates in most cases have the shape of an elongated rectangle and are separated from one another by a lane, usually planted with trees or shrubs. As a rule, the estates are divided into two parts: the front - the yard itself, on which there is a residential building and most of the outbuildings, and the back, where the garden is laid out, there is also a bathhouse. In the past, in the back of the estate there was a threshing floor with chaff, and often a barn for storing grain. In new estates, such a clear division of the estate into two parts is often not observed, since there are fewer outbuildings (many of them are no longer needed), and they do not separate the front yard from the back of the estate.
Previously, when setting up a residential building, orientation to the sunny side was necessarily observed. It was often placed inside the estate with an entrance facing east and a window to the south, regardless of the orientation of the estate in relation to the street. Now new houses are put, as a rule, with a facade on the street, the windows are cut through in accordance with the internal layout.
The main type of house (purt), both before and now, is a four-walled log house, chopped into a cup. Recently, the five-wall has become more and more widespread, more meeting the needs of collective farmers. The log house is usually placed on oak chairs; the space between the chairs is taken with short logs or blocks, which are placed under the lower crown of the log house across the wall. Each house has an underground about 1.5 m deep. front and two in the side wall; the five-wall windows have more, and they are usually located on three sides of the house.
In recent years, not only log houses on a brick or stone foundation have begun to be built, but also completely brick ones. In the area of railway stations, where a lot of slag accumulates, cinder-concrete houses were often erected.
The roofs of most houses are gabled on rafters. In the southern regions, hipped roofs are more common, and only very old houses have male roofs. Previously, most houses were covered with thatch inside the pan, reinforced with transverse slats. Only a few houses, in the more prosperous, were covered with shingles or boards. Nowadays, all the roofs of new houses are covered with board, iron or slate. The pediment of a gable roof is usually sewn up with a board and often decorated with shaped planks.
After the reform of 1861, the Chuvash began to decorate houses from the outside, which had not been done before. The platbands of houses (especially rich peasants) were decorated with chisel carvings, and the frieze was decorated with bas-relief ship carvings. Gables and architraves were sometimes painted in polychrome. The corners of the log cabins were sewn up with longitudinal boards with carved planks for the paneling.
At present, the decoration of dwellings among the Chuvash has received significant development. If earlier only wealthy peasants decorated their houses, now all collective farmers have this opportunity. In the external design of residential buildings, sawn carving is widely used. The polychrome coloring is also preserved.
In the XVIII - early XIX century. the Chuvash did not build a canopy. The door of the house went outside: a window was cut through in its upper part so that the rays of the rising sun could immediately penetrate into the hut. In the middle of the XIX century. a crate appeared behind the house, and between it and the residential part of the house - a canopy, in front of which they later began to make a porch with a ladder. The entrance to the cage was not from the passage, like the Russian peasants, but separate. As a result, the Chuvash house received a three-part structure: a hut - a canopy - a cage.
The old Chuvash houses were fueled with an adobe stove with a black firebox (kamaka); a cauldron was hung over an open hearth. At the beginning of the 20th century the firebox in black began to disappear quickly, and now all rural houses are heated by a Russian stove, on the side of the hearth of which there is a hearth with a hanging boiler. A part of the population of the southern regions of Chuvashia has a hearth attached to the side of the stove, with a boiler stuck into it, like the Tatars. In new houses, the side of the stove is trimmed to look like a Dutch, without a stove bench.
In old houses, the stove was usually placed in a corner, close to the back and blank walls of the house "a, turning the firebox to the front wall. The entire front of the hut was occupied by wide bunks, like in a Tatar dwelling. Movable benches were placed along the walls, sometimes a table at the side wall, in which a window was cut through. Later, the Chuvash hut adopted the layout and furnishings of a Russian peasant hut. A partition appeared that separated the kitchen: it went along the line of the side of the stove to the front wall. The bunks disappeared or remained only in the kitchen. Along the front and side walls, wide stationary benches, and at the back, next to the entrance, there is a platform like a Russian horse.With the introduction of a firebox, shelves appeared in white (more often in the southern regions); gradually the front corner of the hut with a shrine and a table began to stand out.
After collectivization, when the financial situation of the peasants improved dramatically, the Chuvash began to build houses of a new type and rebuild the old ones. Housing construction developed especially widely in the post-war period. They build, as before, four- and five-walls, but they plan them differently. New four-walls are often made somewhat longer than the previous ones. The stove is placed at a distance of more than 1 m from the back wall and turned with a firebox to the side wall with a window. A small room is formed between the stove and the back wall, sometimes a window is cut into it in a blank wall. A partition with a door is placed along the line of the side of the stove, separating the clean front half of the house. The latter is sometimes also divided by a partition, thus obtaining a large room and a bedroom.
For heating, an additional small brick stove is installed here, which has a common chimney with the main stove. Multi-family collective farmers, as well as the rural intelligentsia, most often build five-walls for themselves, in which both residential halves, as a rule, are connected by a door.
One half, which is entered from the vestibule, is usually used as a kitchen and dining room; the second half, heated for the most part by a Dutch stove, is divided into two or three rooms. The floors in new houses are necessarily painted, and in many houses the walls are also painted.
In the new houses of the Chuvash, there is already a modern atmosphere. Many collective farmers have bookcases and wardrobes, radios, a large number of indoor plants * tulle curtains on the windows, embroidered rugs on the walls. The interior of the house gradually takes on the appearance of a city apartment. The front corner is decorated with a good picture or family photographs. In the kitchen, although a hanging cauldron remains obligatory, a stove is often arranged on the hearth and food is cooked in pots, which the Chuvash did not have before.
In addition to a residential building and a barn, which was almost always combined with a house under one roof, the Chuvash manor housed log buildings for livestock, sheds, a barn for storing grain, sometimes a bathhouse * and also a lad - a typical Chuvash building that served as a summer kitchen and a place to make beer.
The cage was built of thick logs, on chairs, like houses, with a good floor and ceiling, but no windows. The roof protruded over the frame * forming a canopy. In front of the entrance to the cage there was a wide porch up to 0.5 m high, sometimes with two steps.
Barns were often made similar in type to the barn, but they were divided by a log partition into two rooms with separate entrances. In one of them, stocks of grain were stored in barrels and tubs, in the other - household utensils, harness, etc.
Las is a small building made of thin logs or slabs, without a ceiling and windows. The roof is gabled, made of shingles or tess, and often one slope was made higher than the other, so that cracks were obtained for smoke to escape. The floor is earthen. Inside is an open hearth with a hanging cauldron. Along the walls there are low earthen bunks, sheathed on the front side with boards or beams. Various household utensils were stored on the bunks and shelves. Some families had a low wooden table in one of the corners, at which they ate in the summer, sitting on the bunk. This building, apparently, was a relic of the ancient dwelling of the Chuvash, like the "kudo" of the Mari and the "kuala" of the Udmurts.
As already noted, in the new estates, the number of outbuildings has sharply decreased, even the crate disappears, being replaced by a closet in the hallway of the house *
In each village there is a school, a reading room, a first-aid post, and in many villages there is a village club or house of culture, a hospital, one or more shops, in some - public baths. The outbuildings of the collective farm are mostly located on the outskirts; these are premises for livestock, storage for grain, silos, grain dryers, etc. In many villages, water pumps have been built that supply water from wells and other reservoirs, standpipes have been installed, and water towers have been installed in large villages. All this significantly changed the appearance of the settlements.
In a number of villages there are bakeries, canteens, sewing workshops, shoe repair, hairdressers, photographs and other consumer services enterprises. Sidewalks began to be made in large settlements, flower beds were arranged near public buildings. Chuvash villages are distinguished by an abundance of greenery.
In recent years, in many state farms and enlarged collective farms, the restructuring of settlements according to the general plan has begun. New construction is associated with the redevelopment of old settlements or their expansion. In district centers, where there is a large population not directly related to agriculture (employees, workers), urban-type apartment buildings are being built, more often two-story.
According to the 1959 census, 26% of the population of the Chuvash ASSR (267,749 people) lives in towns and urban-type settlements. There are currently seven cities, of which Cheboksary, Alatyr, Tsivilsk and Yadrin were founded in the 16th century, and Kanash and Shumerlya turned into cities already in Soviet times due to the development of industry. Now there are six urban-type settlements in Chuvashia: Kozlovka, Kirya, Vurnary, Ibresi, Buinsk, Urmary.
During the Soviet period, the city of Cheboksary, the capital of the republic, grew especially. Before the October Revolution, there were only about 5 thousand inhabitants in it, and according to the 1959 census, more than 104 thousand people are registered in Cheboksary. Now Cheboksary is a modern city with high-rise buildings and various utilities. A satellite city is being built not far from Cheboksary. Large construction is also underway in Kanash, Shumerl and Alatyr, although there are still many rural-type buildings in them. The rest of the cities and workers' settlements consist mainly of small one- and two-story houses and outwardly resemble large villages. Among the inhabitants of the new cities there are many Chuvashs, mostly recent peasants who have now become workers.
Food
The food of the Chuvash, like all ancient farmers, was dominated by plant products: flour, cereals, vegetables, oils from oilseeds. Of lesser importance were milk and dairy products: butter, buttermilk, cottage cheese, cheese, etc. Relatively little was consumed, even by the middle peasantry, meat. Most of the Chuvash peasants were forced to sell more valuable products (meat, butter, eggs) in order to make ends meet in their household.
Bread was almost always baked sour, from rye flour, and only for festive cookies they used wheat flour, mostly purchased, which was available only to more prosperous families. Fritters and pancakes were baked from spelled, buckwheat, less often barley, oatmeal or pea flour. Grinding of grain and its peeling was carried out in water and windmills and grits, but small amounts of grain were ground in wooden hand mills almost until the last decades, and peeled in wooden mortars.
Vegetables were consumed in large quantities - cabbage, onions, turnips, radishes, carrots, horseradish, as well as wild herbs: sorrel, hogweed, nettle, etc., which, together with vegetables, served as seasoning for dishes, stuffing for pies, etc. mid 19th century potatoes occupied a large place in the diet of the Chuvash.
The average Chuvash peasant had the opportunity to consume meat only on major holidays, mainly in the fall, when cattle were slaughtered. Only a rich Chuvash could eat meat - beef and lamb, if not constantly, then often. Pork has only been eaten more in the last century. In the past, especially the lower Chuvashs, willingly ate horse meat, but more often it served as ritual food during prayers. Poultry meat was rarely eaten. Roosters were slaughtered only in the autumn, while the hen was of too great value. Geese and ducks, as noted, were bred only by wealthy peasants.
Fish ate little, and then mainly in the Volga and Sursky settlements. The Chuvash, who lived in places remote from the rivers, bought fish only in those cases when they had to come to the city.
A number of dishes were prepared from eggs, but only for honorary relatives or guests. Eggs were eaten very rarely. They were sold to buy various necessary items from traveling merchants.
Milk and dairy products were widely used in the diet of peasants. Fresh milk was given only to children, while adults hardly drank it. They sold oil. Obrat, or buttermilk (;uyran), was used as a seasoning for liquid dishes or washed down with porridge. From the skimmed milk they made cottage cheese and a kind of chakat cheese. For the preparation of sour milk (rounds), skimmed, less often whole milk was fermented. By adding water in the tours, we got a refreshing drink tours uiranyo.
In addition to animal oil, the Chuvash prepared vegetable oil in large quantities from flax, hemp, and poppy seeds. Poppy "milk" was used as a seasoning for porridge.
The main first course was usually soup (yagika, or shurpe) with potatoes and other seasonings made from flour, vegetables, herbs, etc. Sometimes it was cooked without meat, seasoned only with animal or vegetable oil or buttermilk (uyran). Riding Chuvashs cut boiled meat into small pieces and put them in soup; the lower Chuvashs took the meat out of the soup and served it as a second dish with boiled potatoes.
A constant dish was porridge - spelled, buckwheat, millet, lentil. They often ate peas. Thick porridges were eaten as a second course, seasoned with animal or vegetable oil or washed down with uyran, less often with milk. The second was often served with potatoes boiled in their skins, or peeled, mashed, which was eaten with butter or milk. Often, especially in the field, they brewed oatmeal, which was also flavored with butter or uiran. Kissels, sour and unleavened, were cooked from oatmeal and pea flour.
For family and public holidays, khuran was prepared - pies boiled in a cauldron stuffed with cottage cheese with an egg, mashed potatoes with butter or sour cream, sometimes with meat and onions. A cup of melted butter was served to the table, where khuran dolls were dipped. Several types of scrambled eggs were served at the festive table. Hard-boiled eggs, cut in half and fried in a frying pan with butter, were considered a particularly tasty dish.
Tultarmagi was also considered a tasty meal - intestines stuffed with fatty meat with barley, spelled or millet porridge, which were boiled in a cauldron and then lightly fried. Fresh animal blood, together with small pieces of bacon, was baked in a brazier and served hot.
The original dish was the Chuvash sausage sharttan: the cleaned stomach of an animal, more often mutton, was stuffed with small pieces of meat and lard, then sewn up and put in a frying pan in the oven for 3-4 hours. After cooling, it was cut into thin slices and served to guests as a tasty dish. Sometimes sharttan was prepared for the purpose of preserving meat, for this it was salted more strongly, then hung up. In this form, it could be stored for a long time. Soup was made from it in the summer.
From dough, mostly sour, on holidays, as well as for parties, they baked cakes, donuts; small balls of pastry (yava) or small cakes (yusman) in the past served as a ritual dish during prayers.
They also baked pies with various fillings and puremech - such as cheesecakes with cottage cheese or potatoes. Sometimes they baked the same closed pies as the Russians. Khuplu or pelyosh was especially characteristic of the Chuvash: an unleavened cake was placed in a deep frying pan so that it covered the entire inner surface of the frying pan; a thick layer of finely chopped raw or lightly cooked meat was put on it, and on top of it - thinly sliced slices of lard, and all this was covered with another cake. Khuplu was baked in the oven and served on the table in a frying pan. The elder cut the top crust according to the number of eaters and gave each a piece. Then everyone ate the filling with spoons with a top crust. Then they ate the lower crust soaked in fat, which was also cut into pieces beforehand according to the number of eaters. Sometimes khuplu was stuffed with porridge with raisins richly flavored with butter.
In the Chuvash cuisine there were many tasty and nutritious dishes, but they were prepared only on holidays and for guests. Families, even the middle peasants, ate very poorly, mainly bread, a yashka with uran, porridges and kissels.
The Chuvash spent a lot of products not for family consumption, but for sacrifices. During public prayers in each settlement, a significant number of livestock and birds were slaughtered. A lot of grain was spent on the preparation of ritual beer. Eggs, chakat, porridge and other products were spent on family prayers and sacrifices.
Of the drinks, the most common was beer (sara), which was prepared in almost every yard, with the exception of poor households. In a small amount they drank Russian kvass.
In Soviet times, due to the sharp rise in the material and cultural level of the Chuvash, their diet also changed. Products basically remained the same, but the most valuable of them (meat, butter) began to be consumed in large quantities by all Chuvash. The diet included fruits, sugar and confectionery, which previously, and then in minimal quantities, were consumed only by the rich. Along with many dishes preserved from the old cuisine, goulash, stew with potatoes, fried potatoes with butter or meat, and other dishes that came mainly from Russian cuisine, partly through public catering, became common. The table setting has changed: wooden utensils have disappeared, and separate plates and cutlery have been served to everyone. The food of the Chuvash is becoming more and more high-calorie, more varied, the methods of cooking and serving are improving.
LEGENDS ABOUT CHUVASH HOUSES AND BUILDINGS. The villages were mostly small. There were no streets as such. Groups of houses were arranged randomly (sapalansa). The houses of relatives were located inside one large courtyard (let) with one gate. Houses of descendants were placed around the yard of the ancestor. They constituted a patronymia - a small community of relatives. A large courtyard was often located near a water source. In 1927, V. Yakovleva from the village. Chinery of the Mariinsko-Posadsky district was written: “In the memory of my father in our village there were no similar streets. One courtyard faced one way, another the other way, and a third behind them. When my father was 8-9 years old, all the yards were moved into two even rows, forming a straight street. The redevelopment of villages and the formation of streets were carried out by state order in the 70s of the XIX century. “In the old days,” says the legend recorded in vil. Arabosi of the Urmarsky district, - three, even five families lived on one estate. It was difficult to get to some farms without questioning... The hut, cages, outbuildings were inside the yard. The yard was enclosed by a wall. Such an arrangement of the courtyard depended on the surviving tribal remnants. However, legends claim that the heap arrangement of several (sometimes up to ten) houses was due to the need for defense against robbers. In the legend about the ancient Shorshely (now the Mariinsky Posad region), recorded by I. Ya. Konkov in 1970, it is said that eight families - Baibakh, Atlas and their relatives from the village. Bolshoi Kamaevo (in the same area) moved to the area of Shordal (White Key) - on the banks of the Tsivil River. From the locality, the village received the name Shorshely, and officially it was called Baibakhtino - on behalf of the ancestor Baibakh. Initially, the settlers built semi-dugouts der purt on the slope of the river bank. For several years, the peasants acquired houses and buildings. There was no drinking in those days. Everything was built with an axe. All had one fenced yard with one gate. In the courtyard, on four sides, two huts were placed with doors to each other, and between the huts there was a vestibule alkum (alak ume), that is, a canopy. In the middle of the vestibule there was a partition with a small window. The huts of khur purt were built from unhewn logs. They cut down one or two small windows: a person could not climb through it. The stove was made of stones and clay; it did not have a chimney. For smoke to escape from the hut, two holes were made in the wall: one near the stove, the other next to the door. Chonyo was covered with a lid. During the firing of the stove, smoke stood in the upper part of the hut, descending to half the door. He did not have time to go out through the shade, and he had to let out smoke through the door, which opened inward. The door was closed from the inside with a deadbolt, and at night with a tekyo support, the length from the front wall to the back. This was done to protect against robbers. In the yard, apart from the huts, there were rooms for cattle, cages. Vegetable gardens were located away from the village, threshing floors were arranged in the field. Many legends indicate that the doors of the huts were facing east. Chuvash every morning, opening the door, faced the Sun and prayed to the pagan gods and deities. A legend recorded by V. Aleksandrov in the village of Bolshoe Churashevo (now the Yadrinsky District) in 1925 tells a somewhat different story about the location of the hut and buildings in the courtyard. It says that next to the hut they put a cage, a stable, a barn. All buildings had doors that opened inwards. It was possible to get into the buildings from the hut through the side small secret doors. At night, horses, cows, sheep were driven into their premises and, having penetrated into them through the side doors, the large doors were locked with crossbars so that thieves could not open them. In the southeastern, newly populated part of Chuvashia, the legend indicates, fearing robbers, “the Chuvash built their houses like a fortress: their courtyard was surrounded by high, often two-story outbuildings, high plate oak fences enclosed in thick oak pillars, and a hut was built in the middle of the yard. The windows in the hut were small, one or two small links, and there were two or three such windows in the hut, they were cut very high from the ground. The huts were locked from the inside with strong wooden latches and strong salap supports. All barns, stables, gates had three strong locks: inside there was a salap support, which was unlocked with a secret rope, and a wooden latch, unlocked with a wooden shalner hook, and outside there was a special huge quadrangular wooden lock, firmly attached to the door leaf. Houses were built with their backs to each other (kuta kutan) and cut through small doors for free passage from one house to another. And in other legends, it is stubbornly emphasized that the dwelling was built with the calculation of protection from the attacks of robbers and forest animals. Very small windows were cut down at the chicken hut, which is why it was dark in it even in sunlight. It had a main door and a second one - a secret exit, the front and rear gables of the hut were climbed with logs, a ladder was installed to the stove, along which the owner climbed up and threw stones at the thieves entering the hut. The legend tells about this type of buildings: in the village. Ivanovo (now Yantikovsky district), Yumzya Ivan, the founder of the settlement, surrounded his yard on all sides with a double hedge of brushwood and smeared it, for a fortress, with a layer of clay on both sides, tamped the entire inter-wall void with clay. Inside the fortification, near his dwelling, he erected a sanctuary. Neighboring Chuvashs came here to perform a chuka - a prayer with a sacrifice. His relative Pusay, who lived in the neighborhood of Ivan, helped the Yumza by slaughtering the sacrificial animals brought in. ..You could get into the Chuvash buildings from the hut through the side small secret doors. At night, horses, cows, sheep were driven into their premises and, having penetrated into them through the side doors, the large doors were locked with crossbars so that thieves could not open them. In the southeastern, newly populated part of Chuvashia, the legend indicates, fearing robbers, “the Chuvash built their houses like a fortress: their courtyard was surrounded by high, often two-story outbuildings, high plate oak fences enclosed in thick oak pillars, and a hut was built in the middle of the yard. The windows in the hut were small, one or two small links, and there were two or three such windows in the hut, they were cut very high from the ground. The huts were locked from the inside with strong wooden latches and strong salap supports. All barns, stables, gates had three strong locks: inside there was a salap support, which was unlocked with a secret rope, and a wooden latch, unlocked with a wooden shalner hook, and outside there was a special huge quadrangular wooden lock, firmly attached to the door leaf. Houses were built with their backs to each other (kuta kutan) and cut through small doors for free passage from one house to another. And in other legends, it is stubbornly emphasized that the dwelling was built with the calculation of protection from the attacks of robbers and forest animals. Very small windows were cut down at the chicken hut, which is why it was dark in it even in sunlight. It had a main door and a second one - a secret exit, the front and rear gables of the hut were climbed with logs, a ladder was installed to the stove, along which the owner climbed up and threw stones at the thieves entering the hut. The legend tells about this type of buildings: in the village. Ivanovo (now Yantikovsky district), Yumzya Ivan, the founder of the settlement, surrounded his yard on all sides with a double hedge of brushwood and smeared it, for a fortress, with a layer of clay on both sides, tamped the entire inter-wall void with clay. Inside the fortification, near his dwelling, he erected a sanctuary. Neighboring Chuvashs came here to perform a chuka - a prayer with a sacrifice. His relative Pusay, who lived in the neighborhood of Ivan, helped the Yumza by slaughtering the sacrificial animals brought in. Used materials of the article; "On the accession of the Chuvash people to the Russian state".
HOUSING- built in accordance with nature. and socio-economic. living conditions, the level of development of architecture construction to meet the needs of housing, a component of culture, including related. with ethnic specifics. In individual. Zh. - technology, planning, interior - reflected traditional. elements of culture. The functionality is known from time immemorial. the division of Zh. into winter and summer, the origins of which go back to stable, permanent Zh. and portable, collapsible. Chuvash materials. Vocabulary, folklore, legends, and embroidery patterns testify that the yurt was the ancient Zh. of the ancestors of the Chuvash. In writing. sources near the Volga. Bulgarians, along with derevyan. houses and adobe. Zh., felt yurts were also recorded. However, the Chuvash traditions of organizing a yurt have not been preserved. Possibly, a rudiment of ancient Zh. - a tent-kibitka (the main type of housing in the steppe zone) - is covered with leather tui k™mi (wedding tent) and a tent for overnight stay in haymaking and harvesting bread (it was covered with leather or rough canvas). Since ancient times, a semi-dugout served as a stationary Zh., which dominated the forest-steppe. and step. stripes of the settled population of the Saltov-Mayak culture; in the 2nd floor. 1 thousand, it also appears in the southern regions of the Kama region, but it also existed in the late Middle Ages. In particular, in connection with the turbulent situation in the 2nd half. 14th - 15th centuries the population of Zakamye mainly built semi-dugouts, the walls of which were reinforced with wooden planks. Ground-based adobe houses of a round or oval shape with a conical roof were typical of the Bulgarians and, possibly, preceded the log house, a cut in the Middle. The Volga region is known from the 2nd floor. 1 thousand AD
Chuvash. peasants. architecture dates back to the time when the main builder. the material was wood (mid-1st millennium AD), while the roots were ornamental. motives lie deeper. The log hut of the Chuvash is long. time was single-chamber, in the 17-19 centuries. was built with a canopy at the entrance, with a porch and less often with a passage. In the 18th century or previously encountered three chambers. J. hut + canopy + hut (one of the huts served as a clean half). In the 2nd floor. 19th century single-chamber housing gave way to a two-chamber (hut with closed passages), more characteristic of the forest-steppe. zone, and a three-chamber (hut with a passage and a cage), more common in the forest zone. The introduction of these types of housing was associated both with the development of the builder. technology, and the redevelopment of settlements - the replacement of the cumulus plan with a street plan. Wealthy peasants built so-called. round houses - with a wide side to the street, a corridor with a vestibule. like along a long wall. The houses were placed with a facade on the street along one line (in the old days they were located in the middle of the courtyard or along the perimeter of the nests of courtyards). In the three-chamber connection, the hut + canopy + cage (two-story barn), the cage or the second floor of the barn was used as a summer house (cage-bedroom). In the forest zone (in particular, in Kozmodemyan. u.), houses were built with a high podzby, basement, semi-basement. floor. Five-wall, which appeared in the 2nd floor. 19th century, distributed from the middle. 20th century; for the forest-steppe. zones (ethnoterritorial. groups) a hut with a cut is more characteristic. A five-wall with a prirub and a cross-house are variants of multi-chambers. derevyan. houses that had little share in the total array of houses.
In the beginning. 20th century Zh. had wooden. the foundation (pillars), log cabins (10–15 crowns) were cut into a corner (“into a bowl”) from logs of coniferous species or linden, the crown crown was made of oak. Rafter. the roof supplanted the male, which prevailed until the middle. 19th century In the forest zone, the main material for covering was wood (shingles, bast, shingles, tess), in the forest-steppe. - straw. The four-walled building had 3–6 windows with single or double shutters (in the middle of the 19th century there were 1–2 small slanting windows without frames and portage windows). Old traditions of house orientation, for example, to the east, were no longer respected. in con. 19 - beg. 20th century has undergone a number of changes.
At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. builder consumption increased. material. Wealthy the peasants hired carpenters, carvers, joiners, and masons; into peasants. construction equipment is innovating. In the beginning. 20th century in the development of the peasants. In the early 1900s, a new type of house appeared in architecture, the chul ® urt (stone house), which was built of brick and included elements of the classics in its architectural design. In the 1920s wonderful examples of external decoration appeared during the spread of new types of housing, such as a five-walled house, a “round” house, and a stone house. The art of ornamentation developed. carvings of elements of the facade of the house: platbands, cornice, pediment, front porch, gate. Political setting in the 1930s. led to a slowdown in the development of architecture Zh.
Zh.'s development in the 2nd floor. 20th century happened on inherited. traditions and their combination with innovations. Five-walls and houses with cuts became the main types of housing, this situation is preserved in the beginning. 21st century Log houses - more character. sign for the zone adjacent to the forests; Logging equipment is widely used in modernized construction. large houses and summer houses in con. 20 - early. 21st century New progressives are being introduced. and rational. masonry methods. The share of brick houses is 40-50%. Large-sized houses with a large number of windows are being built, improved. architectures. appearance - with an attic, a balcony, a porch, a tower, new roof forms (mansard, asymmetric, multi-component), figured masonry of walls, cornice and casing, sawn carving. Since the 1980s there has been a trend towards the construction of residential and other premises under one roof. Two floors are being built. Houses.
In Zh. Chuvash, the development of a builder. technology and architecture. elements had the same tendencies as among other peoples of the Volga and Ural regions. All R. 19th century were almost the only ones. expressive decorative. design of buildings. The dwelling house, in contrast to the gate, not facing the outer space, was little decorated with carvings; zamet. changes in the external appearance of Zh. began to occur with the setting of the hut with a facade on the street. Change constructive-morphological. signs concerned the arrangement of the roof, windows, chambers, interior. Artistic elements. registration, spread in con. 19th century, there were a dormer hole and a dormer window with a casing, prichelins (boards covering the front end slope of the roof), overlaid patterns on the pediment field, cornice, platbands and shutters, sheathing of corners and walls. Along with chiselling and sculptures. carving introduced saw and overhead thread. Overlaid figures - squares, rhombuses, round rosettes - were used instead of rosettes of the old carving. New traditions were consolidated in the 1920s. Ornamentation patterns of this period have been recorded , they testify to the significant level of skill of the Chuvash. carvers. In the external design of Zh. in the 2nd floor. 20th century used sawn (openwork, silhouette, overlay) carving, mosaic. wall sheathing with plank, punched iron, plaster, whitewashing and painting, stucco, carving on wet plaster, figures. brickwork. Many variants of Zh.'s decor have been developed, reflecting the quantitative, qualitative. and locale. peculiarities. The abundance of decorative. elements, large-patterned piece sets, a wide cornice board with an overlay. patterns, small architectures. forms (attics of summer houses, gates), bright polychrome. coloring are a feature of the characteristics of Zh. in the southwest. regions of Chuvashia. To the northwest. Part of the decoration feature is, in particular, finely patterned carving, reminiscent of filigree. embroidery of riding Chuvashs, gates with carved and painted decorations of pillars in the old days. style, etc. Clear decorative. the ensemble consists of a residential building, a summer house and a gate. For ethnoterritorial. Chuvash forest-steppe groups. zones (Samar. and Saratov. region., Bashkortostan) character. element is the exterior finish. walls of houses - plastering, plastering, whitewashing. In a number of regions, especially in the east, the plot has become widespread. painting in enamel and oil paints.
With the emergence of cities, a city was built. Zh., which at first was made of wood. and practically did not differ from the rural one. Later, stone Zh. prosperous appeared. trading people, representing the 2nd floor. chambers, in which the residential floor was located above the subcellular utility floor. In some merchant houses, con. 19th century shops, restaurants and taverns were located on the first floor.
In the beginning. 20th century In connection with the development of industry in the cities, a new type of housing appeared—hired, character. a feature of which was a number of more or less identical residential cells, united. common communications: corridor or stairs. In the 1920s and 30s. in the cities of Chuvashia, a 2-floor was built. 6–8 apartments. derevyan. houses and barracks. Sharpness of dwellings. problems required the introduction of industrial. methods of construction and unification of types Zh. To this end, in 1929–31. in Kozlovka a plant for the production of parts for the frame was built. American houses. type for 8 apartments. In con. 1920s - early. 1930s apartment buildings began to be built. houses from kir-picha on an individual basis. projects (for example, 18 apartments. "House of professors" on the street. K. Marx in Cheboksary, 1932), then, with the development of construction of economic. section. houses - according to the standard.
From Ser. 1960s mass construction of the 5th floor began. prefabricated reinforced concrete houses. panels according to a series of standard projects. The houses had 1-, 2- and 3-rooms. apartments with usable area from 31 to 57 m2 with full engineer. landscaping. In the beginning. 1970s mastered the construction of a new series of large panels. houses, which has a wide range of block sections with more comfort. apartments, which made it possible to solve the planning of microdistricts in a picturesque and unconventional way. Children's preschools were built in them simultaneously with housing. institutions, schools, trade and public utilities, cultural institutions. First 9th floor. a residential building of this series was built in Novocheboksarsk in 1974. In the end. 1970s - early. 1980s work was carried out to unify large-panel products. housing construction and improvement of planning. apartment solutions, resulting in the creation of regional. a series of typical projects of residential buildings and a block section was introduced. the method of their design and construction (Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, 1983). In the apartments, the living area, the size of the kitchens, front rooms, and bathrooms have been increased.
In the beginning. 1980s introduced the construction of housing from a monolith. concrete. First monolith. residential building for 79 apartments (1-, 3-, 4-room apartments, with a total area of 36 to 87 m2) was erected in Cheboksary in 1984. Along with large panels. and monolith. houses are built of brick houses, both standard and individual. projects, taking into account specific features. family and classroom planning.
The quality of life is op-re-divided by the state. norms. From the time of. urban housing is designed taking into account the occupancy of the apartment by one family. Apartments in state houses. and municipal. housing stock have living rooms and a utility room. premises: kitchen, front room, bathroom, lavatory, pantry; apartments in houses of other forms of ownership, in addition - additional. premises (nursery, dining room, office, etc.).
To create the most favorable. living conditions for villages. population in the 1960s. work has begun on . Along with the traditional Zh. began to be built 2-3-floor. section. home city. type equipped. centralized. plumbing, sewerage and heating. Experiments were conducted to select the most rational. village types. J. (see ). Stroitel. Chuvash industry. Rep. production of products for full assembly was mastered. manor houses. type for 1-2 apartments and section. houses with 12, 18 and 27 apartments. Significant happened. changes in traditional G. Houses began to be built of brick in 1-2 floors with a large set of households. buildings. The archi-tech tour has changed. village image. G. All houses are electrified, gasified approx. 90% (2006).
Builder development. bases and individual dual. construction allowed to bring to 2005 dwellings. fund of the republic up to 26.1 million m2, availability of housing - up to 20 m2 for 1 person
The main types of settlements are villages and villages. The earliest types of settlement - river and ravine, planning - cumulus-nesting (in the northern and central districts) and linear (in the south). In the north, the division of the village into ends is characteristic, usually inhabited by kindred families. Street planning extends from the 2nd floor. 19th century
The traditional hut was placed in the center of the front yard with an entrance to the east and windows to the south, and was heated in a black adobe stove near the back blank wall. Bunks were arranged along the walls. From the 2nd half of the XIX century. dwellings of the Central Russian type with a three-part structure are spreading: a hut - a canopy - a cage. Windows are cut through in 3 walls; the internal layout is similar to the Russian one: a red corner, a conic, benches along the walls; the kitchen is separated by a partition. To the beginning 20th century The chicken stove is replaced by a Russian stove with a chimney and boards, while the traditional hearth with a hanging or cauldron is preserved. Later, Dutch stoves spread. Roof 2-, in the south often 4-pitched, covered with straw, shingles or boards. The house is decorated with polychrome paintings, sawn carvings, overhead decorations, the so-called. "Russian" gates with a gable roof on 3-4 pillars - bas-relief carving, later painted. 80% of rural Chuvash live in traditional huts.
There is an ancient log building - las (originally without a ceiling and windows, with an open hearth), serving as a summer kitchen. Cellars and baths are widespread. Traditional local differences in the dwelling and layout of the estate are preserved: among the riding Chuvashs, the dwelling house and outbuildings are connected L- or U-shaped, large open courtyards are common, at the grassroots, the cage is usually separated from the house, outbuildings are located in the corner opposite from the house courtyard, bright polychrome coloring prevails, abundant decorative elements in the external decoration. A modern rural house - four or five walls with an internal layout of the living space, a veranda, a front porch, a mezzanine. The interior retains traditional features: a table, chairs, a sofa or benches are located in the front corner, the bed is often separated by a curtain. Homespun carpets (palas), traditional embroideries are used.
Building and improvement of cities in the XVI-XIX centuries.
There is no such question
Food culture, traditional dishes.
The main cereal plants consumed for food are rye, barley, oats, millet, buckwheat, known from Arabic sources and archaeological data, even in the Volga Bulgaria.
The main place was given to dishes made from rye flour, sour bread and numerous pastries, ranging from hearth cakes to traditional pies with meat or fish stuffing huplu. Flour, cereals and oatmeal made from oats, wheat, spelt and barley were also used.
Chuvash national cuisine has a significant number of meat dishes. They ate beef, lamb, horse meat (among the lower Chuvash), poultry. The traditional Chuvash treat sharttan is a sheep's stomach stuffed with meat. We also cooked homemade sausage. Dairy products were widely used, mainly sour milk tours, buttermilk uyran, as well as cottage cheese in the form of curds chykyt. Butter and eggs were used for food in small quantities: along with grain, they were the main marketable products of the peasant economy. Game was occasionally consumed, mainly hare. The inhabitants of the riverside villages ate fish. Tasty and nutritious dishes of national cuisine were prepared only on holidays. The Chuvash family mainly ate the traditional yashka soup with homemade noodles, which was only occasionally boiled in meat or fish broth, as well as uiran, boiled potatoes, porridge, kissels. Porridge, soup with dumplings, pancakes, cakes, as well as eggs and drinks were an obligatory attribute of the religious rites of the Chuvash.
Of the sweets, the Chuvash used honey, which was also used for a honey drink and honey mash. The intoxicating drink was beer made from barley or rye malt.
The traditional food system of the Chuvash, fitting into the framework of the Volga model, also has some specificity, which indicates the dominant nature of the ethnogenetic proximity of the Chuvash to the world of the pastoral peoples of Asia.
One group of their foods and dishes has a successive connection with the culinary traditions of the ancient nomads, as well as the Turkic and partly Iranian-speaking peoples of Asia, the other was formed in relatively late periods already in the middle Volga and Ural regions as a result of cultural and genetic mutual influence with the local Finno-Ugric peoples (kashi, some flour products), as well as Russians.
35. Family rituals: maternity (naming, baptism), wedding ceremonies.
1) Traditions and rituals in the Chuvash wedding.
Dating and choosing a bride and groom.
According to the traditions of many peoples, it was impossible to choose a wife or husband from relatives. Among the Chuvash, this prohibition extended to the seventh generation. For example, seven cousins could not marry. This prohibition is due to the fact that in closely related marriages, children are very often born sick. Therefore, the Chuvash guys were looking for brides in neighboring and distant villages.
To meet young people, various gatherings, games, holidays, common to several villages, were arranged. They looked especially carefully at future wives and husbands at joint work: haymaking, neem, etc.
When a guy announced his desire to marry, the parents first of all found out what kind of bride he was, whether she was healthy, hardworking enough, smart, what kind of character she had, what appearance, etc.
To get acquainted with the bride's family and preliminary agreement, matchmaking, the parents of the young man sent matchmakers. A few days later, the parents and relatives of the groom came to the bride's house for the final courtship of the bride. They brought gifts: beer, cheese, various cookies. From the side of the bride, relatives also gathered, usually the eldest in the family. Before the treat, the door was slightly opened and they prayed with pieces of bread and cheese in their hands. Then the feast, songs, fun began. On the same day, the bride gave gifts to future relatives: towels, surpans, shirts and treated them to beer, in response they put several coins in the empty ladle. During one of these visits, the matchmakers agreed on the day of the wedding and the amount of bride price and dowry.
A few days before the wedding, the groom's parents once again came to the bride's house for a final agreement on the timing of the wedding.
Money, food for a wedding, skins for a fur coat, etc. were given as bride price. And the dowry included various clothes, scarves, towels, feather pillows, chests, pets: a foal, a cow, sheep, geese, a chicken with chickens.
The elder friend was chosen from the close relatives of the groom - a kind, cheerful man, a joker and a talker, who perfectly remembers all the details of the wedding ritual. He usually negotiated with the bride's parents. The younger friend was selected from the young relatives of the groom.
Wedding preparations
Everywhere the Chuvash wedding began almost simultaneously in the groom's house and in the bride's house, then the weddings were joined in the bride's house - the groom came and took her to him, and the wedding ended in the groom's house. In general, wedding celebrations took several days, and they were often held in a week.
As always, before special celebrations, they arranged a bath, dressed in the best elegant clothes, festive hats and jewelry. Among relatives or good acquaintances, special people were chosen who organized the wedding celebration and carried out special assignments. And from the side of the groom, and from the side of the bride, the leader of the wedding was chosen.
The bride bowed to her parents, the father and mother blessed their daughter.
According to Chuvash traditions, both the groom and the bride were seated on pillows with special embroidered patterns. Russians put newlyweds on fur skins so that they could live richly.
The groom was brought into the house, he bowed to his parents, and they blessed him.
An obligatory wedding ceremony was the dressing of a female headdress by the bride - surpan khushpu.
The last wedding ceremony was the ceremony of the bride walking for water, which could also be carried out in different ways. The bride, youth, relatives went to the spring. They could throw coins into the water, pronounce the necessary words. The bride (or a relative of her husband) drew water three times and overturned the bucket three times. The fourth time the bride brought water into the house. With this water, she cooked soup with dumplings or another dish. The daughter-in-law's cooking and treating new relatives meant her entry into her husband's clan.
Most of the Chuvash still live in villages (yal). In the northern regions of the Chuvash ASSR, which are more ancient in terms of settlement, settlements are usually located in nests, often including up to a dozen villages. In the southern part of the republic, settled later, the distribution of villages is more even. The names of most northern villages have the prefix pasa, which means the end, or settlement. In the southern regions, there are no names with such a prefix, but many villages are settlements from ancient northern villages. Here they bear the names of old villages with the addition - New, Field, etc. The southern villages are usually larger than the northern ones (sometimes up to 500-800 households; in the northern ones - 80-100 households).
For the old Chuvash village of the northern regions, division into ends is characteristic. Often this was due to the fact that the relief is heavily indented by ravines, and the ends were called parts of the village located on separate spaces between ravines. Often the ends stood out and: with even relief. Probably, these ends were groups of relatives' estates. The northern villages are also characterized by twisted streets, as if laid between separate, disorderly scattered nests of estates. In our time, in connection with the unfolding mass housing construction in such settlements, new straight streets are being laid and old ones are being re-planned. In the southern regions, even before, street planning prevailed, without ends, more often along the river.
In the north, the division of the village into ends - (kases), usually inhabited by kindred families, is characteristic. Street planning spread from the 2nd half of the 19th century. The traditional hut (purt, surt) was placed in the center of the front yard with an entrance to the east and windows to the south, and was heated in a black adobe stove (kamaka) against the back blank wall. Bunks were arranged along the walls. From the 2nd half of the 19th century. dwellings of the Central Russian type with a three-part structure are spreading: a hut - a canopy - a cage. Windows are cut through in 3 walls; the internal layout is similar to the Russian one: a red corner, a conic, benches along the walls; the kitchen is separated by a partition. By the beginning of the 20th century the chicken stove is replaced by a Russian stove with a chimney and planks, while the traditional hearth (vuchakh) with a suspended (among the viryal) or smeared (among the anatri) cauldron is preserved. Later, Dutch stoves spread. Roof 2-, in the south often 4-pitched, covered with straw, shingles or boards. The house is decorated with polychrome painting, sawn carving, overhead decorations, the so-called "Russian" gates with a gable roof on 3-4 pillars - bas-relief carving, later painted. 80% of rural Chuvashs live in traditional huts (1981 survey). There is an ancient log building - las (originally without a ceiling and windows, with an open hearth), serving as a summer kitchen. Cellars (nukhrep), baths (muncha) are widespread. Traditional local differences in the dwelling and layout of the estate are preserved: among the riding Chuvashs, the dwelling house and outbuildings are connected L- or U-shaped, large open courtyards are common, at the grassroots, the cage is usually separated from the house, outbuildings are located in the corner opposite from the house courtyard, bright polychrome coloring prevails, abundant decorative elements in the external decoration
Chuvash estates in most cases have the shape of an elongated rectangle and are separated from one another by a lane, usually planted with trees or shrubs. As a rule, the estates are divided into two parts: the front - the yard itself, on which there is a residential building and most of the outbuildings, and the back, where the garden is laid out, there is also a bathhouse. In the past, in the back of the estate there was a threshing floor with chaff, and often a barn for storing grain. In new estates, such a clear division of the estate into two parts is often not observed, since there are fewer outbuildings (many of them are no longer needed), and they do not separate the front yard from the back of the mustache
Previously, when setting up a residential building, orientation to the sunny side was necessarily observed. It was often placed inside the estate with an entrance facing east and a window to the south, regardless of the orientation of the estate in relation to the street. Now new houses are put, as a rule, with a facade on the street, the windows are cut through in accordance with the internal layout.
The main type of house (purt), both before and now, is a four-walled log house, chopped into a cup. Recently, the five-wall has become more and more widespread, more meeting the needs of collective farmers. The log house is usually placed on oak chairs; the space between the chairs is taken with short logs or blocks, which are placed under the lower crown of the log house across the wall. Each house has an underground about 1.5 m deep. The height of the log house from the floor to the mother (machcha) varies from 2 to 2.3 m, and in new large houses it even reaches 3 m. two in the side wall; the five-wall windows have more, and they are usually located on three sides of the house.
According to the traditions of many peoples, the construction of their own house was a matter of honor for every man. It was believed that a real man should build a house, raise a child and plant a tree. Of course, first - a house, so that there is a place to raise a child and something to plant a tree near.
In the Chuvash language, the word "man" can be translated by two terms çyn and etem. This means a person as a biological being, as part of the animal world, çyn is already a real person, a part of human society. An old Chuvash proverb says: “Çynshutnekĕres is small etemĕn kil-çurtçavărmalla” (If you want to be considered a man, build a house).
Origin of the term "home" In the Chuvash language, the term "house" can be translated in three words:
1. Zurt is a word known in many Turkic languages. For example: in Altai, Turkish, Old Uzbek and other languages - yurt - dwelling, parking, country.
2. Pärt - a word borrowed from the Baltic languages. For example, in Lithuanian - pirtis - bath.
3. Kil - an ancient Bulgarian word with more than a thousand years of history. In ancient times, it could mean "yard, village, settlement, city." More than a thousand years ago, the city of Sarkel existed on the Don River. This name was deciphered using the Chuvash language: Sarkel - shură kil (white house, white city).
The word kil is consonant with another Chuvash word kil (come, go), denoting movement in the direction “toward yourself, to the speaker”, in contrast to the word pyr (come, go) - movement “away from yourself, from the speaker”. Kil kunta - “come here”, but in Chuvash you cannot say “pyrkunta”, you can say “unta pyr” - “come there”. Probably, once in ancient times, the word kil meant a place where they always return. This is, of course, home.
Place to build a house. The place for the construction of the future house was carefully chosen, usually it was done by old people. Nearby there must have been a spring or a place where a well could be dug. It was impossible to put a house on "unclean" places - the former bathhouse, cemetery, kiremetkarti, etc.
Materials for building a house. For all peoples, the main material for building a house was the material that was available in abundance in this area. For the Volga region of those times, this is a tree. But for buildings they could use clay, stone. Their use was associated, most likely, with the observance of traditions, since in the ancient states of the ancestors of the Chuvash, adobe houses, stone fortresses, and palaces were built.
For adobe buildings, bricks were made from a mixture of clay and straw. This mixture was thoroughly mixed, molded from it into blocks and dried in the sun. Then the walls were folded from the finished blocks, fastening them with clay. Another type of clay building has a very ancient history and was used in the past by many peoples, especially those living in warm climates. The walls were woven from strong rods and coated with clay. After drying, the building was ready. Such buildings were cheap, but short-lived in our climate. After heavy rains and winter frosts, they had to be constantly repaired. Therefore, temporary or auxiliary premises were usually made of clay.
The most durable, durable and fireproof buildings were made of stone. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, houses made of sandstone were found in Chuvash villages. In such a house, without major repairs, several generations could live in a row. A wooden house could usually stand for 50 years, but a wooden log house is still considered the most beneficial for human health.
Wood for building a house was usually cut down in winter. They chose trees with the most straight, long and strong trunks that did not rot. These are pine, oak, linden, spruce. The tree was cut down or filed, then the branches were cut off and cleaned of the bark.
Foundation, walls, windows, doors of the house. In the spring, from logs, picking up and hewing them, they folded a log house (pura). During the summer, the log house dried up. In the autumn or next year, the log house was dismantled and re-folded on the foundation (nikĕs). The foundation is four stones or pieces of oak logs placed at the corners of the future house.
Having installed the first logs (crowns) - yÿn, they dug an underground (sakai). At the height of 2-3 crowns, three large logs were cut - urate and the floor (urai) was laid from strong hewn boards. Near the wall (under the future bunks) they left the entrance to the underground. Then the log house was completely raised, laying dry moss between the logs.
Cutouts were left in the walls for windows and doors. They tried to make the window (moreche) small so that heat would not escape through it and thieves and wild animals could not climb in. Cleaned and dried bovine bladder film was used instead of glass. Occasionally, mica, a transparent layered material, was inserted into window frames. Of course, only weak sunlight passed through such windows. At night and in cold weather, the window was closed with shutters.
It may seem to modern people that it is very inconvenient and bad to have such small windows. Our ancestors just found this very convenient. A person spent most of his time outside the house, working in the yard, in the field, and on cold winter days, when they worked a lot indoors, it got dark very quickly at home, in any case, they had to turn on the lights. Later, when glass became available, the windows were made large and decorated with carved architraves.
Ritual at the beginning of the construction of the house. At the very beginning of construction, when the first logs (crowns) were laid, the nikĕspătti ceremony was performed. Coins and pieces of wool were placed in the corners under the logs so that the future house would be warm and rich. In the underground, a fire was made and ritual porridge was cooked, carpenters and relatives were invited. They prayed that the spirit of this land would allow us to build a house, so that the family would live together in a new house, be able to receive guests, and that there would be no need to move anywhere. After praying, a spoonful of porridge was thrown into the fire as a sacrifice to the spirits. Then they ate, had fun, sang songs, danced.
Roof and ceiling of the house. First, the frame was completely raised and at the same time the upper triangular part was arranged - the pediment (shitme) and poles for the roof. Later, the pediment began to be made of boards. For the roof (vitĕ, tără, çi) they could use bark (khup), straw (ulăm), split logs up to 2 meters long (chĕrenche) and wooden stumps up to 50 cm long (turpas), boards (khăma).
The ceiling (tÿpe, machcha) was made from halves of logs or thick hewn boards. In those days, it was almost impossible to make a long and thin board, now it is done using a sawmill mechanism. Therefore, it was easier to split the logs and hew one side, besides, then there were still plenty of forests. Later, boards began to be sawn with a vertical saw.
A matitsa (părăs, machchakashti) - a strong log - was installed in the upper part of the wall and the ceiling was laid on it. The ends of the ceiling boards were cut into the logs of the walls. According to another version, the ceiling was made of short boards and their ends were cut into the walls and matitsa. In the attic they poured earth, leaves, so that the heat would not go away.
Attach to houses. If necessary, a porch, a canopy, a closet (păltăr), etc., could be attached to the houses. Later, the houses began to be connected with some outbuildings - barns, cages. For large families, another hut was built and both houses were connected by a canopy or a canopy.
In recent years, not only log houses on a brick or stone foundation have begun to be built, but also completely brick ones. In the area of railway stations, where a lot of slag accumulates, cinder-concrete houses were often erected.
The roofs of most houses are gabled on rafters. In the southern regions, hipped roofs are more common, and only very old houses have male roofs. Previously, most houses were covered with thatch inside the pan, reinforced with transverse slats. Only a few houses, in the more prosperous, were covered with shingles or boards. Nowadays, all the roofs of new houses are covered with board, iron or slate. The pediment of a gable roof is usually sewn up with a board and often decorated with shaped planks.
After the reform of 1861, the Chuvash began to decorate houses from the outside, which had not been done before. The platbands of houses (especially rich peasants) were decorated with chisel carvings, and the frieze was decorated with bas-relief ship carvings. Gables and architraves were sometimes painted in polychrome. The corners of the log cabins were sewn up with longitudinal boards with carved planks for the paneling.
At present, the decoration of dwellings among the Chuvash has received significant development. If earlier only wealthy peasants decorated their houses, now all collective farmers have this opportunity. In the external design of residential buildings, sawn carving is widely used. The polychrome coloring is also preserved.
In the XVIII - early XIX century. the Chuvash did not build a canopy. The door of the house went outside: a window was cut through in its upper part so that the rays of the rising sun could immediately penetrate into the hut. In the middle of the XIX century. a crate appeared behind the house, and between it and the residential part of the house - a canopy, in front of which they later began to make a porch with a ladder. The entrance to the cage was not from the passage, like the Russian peasants, but separate. As a result, the Chuvash house received a three-part structure: a hut - a canopy - a cage.
After collectivization, when the financial situation of the peasants improved dramatically, the Chuvash began to build houses of a new type and rebuild the old ones. Housing construction developed especially widely in the post-war period. They build, as before, four- and five-walls, but they plan them differently.
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Chuvash house inside. |
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Scientists of past centuries noted that all the houses of the Chuvash, both poorer and richer, were very similar. This also happened because, according to ancient traditions, the internal structure of the Chuvash house resembled the structure of the whole world. And, of course, the arrangement of objects in the house was the most convenient for a large family to live and keep warm in winter. Until now, old houses in many Chuvash villages have just such a device.
Home interior. There was nothing superfluous in the interior of the Chuvash house, only the most necessary for work and leisure, especially in winter.
The entrance to the Chuvash house was always set to the east. This was necessary, since during prayers the Chuvash always turned towards the sunrise. When praying in the house, the door was slightly opened.
To the right of the entrance (rarely to the left) there was a stove, in the opposite corner diagonally - a table. There were bunks along two walls.
Each corner had its own name, and thus the interior space of the house was divided into 4 parts - kĕreke, tĕpel, alăk kukri (door corner), kămaka kukri (stove corner). Tĕpel could be separated by a curtain (charshav).
In the center, in the corner of the furnace, a special pillar was installed - ulchayupi (ulchepi). Two flat crossbars (laptăkkashta) were attached to it and to the opposite walls high under the ceiling. They kept all sorts of small things, put bread, hung clothes.
Furniture (sĕtel-pukan) was made of wood and decorated with carvings. The most necessary and versatile piece of furniture was bunks (sak). They were made and cut into the walls immediately after the construction of the house. Chuvash bunks about 1.5 meters wide were very comfortable for both work and leisure. On them, having laid pillows (çitar, minter), featherbeds or mattresses (tyushek), the whole family slept. All utensils were stored under the bunks. In cold weather, small children were not lowered to the floor, and they played all day long on wide plank beds.
Under the bunks in the warmth was the entrance to the underground. To go down there, the upper part of the bunks was raised.
In ancient times, among the Chuvash, as well as among other peoples of the Volga region, the table (sĕtel) was not higher than the bunks and was used on special solemn occasions, for example, during prayers and holidays. This is confirmed by the special attitude of the Chuvash to the table. You can not sit on it, knock on it, put dirty things.
Other pieces of furniture include various benches (sak, tenkel), shelves (çÿlĕk, sentre), chests (archa, suntăh), bed (putmar), chairs (fart, tenkel).
During the holidays, the house was decorated: bunks were covered with felt, pillows were spread for sitting, the table was covered with an embroidered tablecloth (elme).
Bake. The largest and most important piece of furniture in the house was the stove (kămaka).
Like all the peoples of the Volga region, stoves could be of two types: “white” and “black”. The "white" stove had a chimney, and through it the smoke came out. The “black” stove did not have such a pipe, and smoke entered the room. From him, the ceiling and the upper part of the walls were covered with soot, became black. During the burning of the “black” stove, special (drag) windows (tĕnĕ) were opened near the door and the stove, and smoke came out through them.
For the construction of a "black" adobe stove, a log house was erected, a layer of clay was applied to it and a half of a hollow wooden stump was placed. Clay and stones were stuffed on top. After drying, a fire was made, and the hollow burned out, simultaneously burning the roof of the furnace.
The “white” stove was made of bricks, coated with clay and whitewashed.
Of course, in the house where the stove was heated in white, it was cleaner and more comfortable. But the "black" stove had one advantage - very important for those times. Insects were not found in houses with a "black" stove, and cockroaches and bedbugs could start in other houses. The smoke, getting into the room and then stretching out through the portage window, served as a disinfectant, a kind of ventilation was obtained.
The best firewood was oak and birch. They kept warm longer, there were no sparks dangerous for a wooden house from them.
Lamps. In ancient times, candles (çurta), oil lamps (shantal), and torches (khăyă) were used to illuminate the dwelling. By the beginning of the 20th century, kerosene lamps began to be used.
Candles were made from wax, lard and a thick thread or strip of fabric. A thread was pulled into a tube from the stem of the plant and melted wax was poured into it. After the wax hardened, the tube was cut off - the candle was ready.
Most of the peasant population of the Volga region used torches to illuminate their homes. They were inserted into the svetets (khăyăchikki).
In order to go out into the yard or to the barn in the evening, wooden lanterns (hunar) were made into which candles were inserted.
The spirit of the house is khĕrtsurt. Many peoples had a belief about the existence of a special spirit in every human dwelling. Among the ancient Chuvashs, it was a kind spirit - Khĕrtsurt. He was represented as a girl or an old woman living on the stove or behind it. Hĕrtsurt was treated with great love and attention, like a family member. If the owners returned home from somewhere, the first thing they did was greet Khĕrtsurt and put some kind of present on the stove, only then did they greet the rest of the family and give gifts to children. Every year they made chÿk for Khĕrtsurt - they prayed: they asked her to take care of the house, protect it from ruin, from diseases and all sorts of troubles. As a sacrifice, a pillow was placed on the stove, a cup with porridge and a spoon was placed on it, covered with a clean embroidered towel.
Especially for khĕrtsurt, an embroidered towel was hung on the ulchayupi (or in the corner of the kĕreke), none of the household dared to touch it. This custom survived until the end of the 20th century, in some houses of the elderly one could see such towels.
The very first chÿk for Khĕrtsurt was made during the construction of the stove - her future home.
It was believed that Khĕrtsurt helps in all household chores and looks after small children, that sometimes at night you can see how she sits and spins her yarn.
According to the ideas of the ancient Chuvash, Khĕrtsurt cannot live in a house where they quarrel, swear, mess around, get drunk - they lead an unrighteous lifestyle. If khĕrtsurt leaves the house, then vupkăn will settle in it, and ruin, illness and all sorts of troubles will come to this house, such a family was threatened with extinction.
When the family moved to a new house, they always invited Khĕrtsurt with them, if they forgot to do this, it was believed that at night she cries in the old house. Usually, when moving to a cart with household items, they tied an old bast shoe, they believed that Khĕrtsurt was riding on it. Khĕrtsurt grieved greatly when there was a fire. It was said that one could see her sitting on the ashes of the house and crying.
Yĕrĕkh, tÿrkĕli. Another creature that lived in the house could be yĕrĕh (yărăh) or tÿrkĕlly (tÿrĕ, tÿrri). According to other sources, these spirits lived outside the house: in the entrance hall, in the barn, in an old tree, an abandoned building.
Now it is difficult to determine whether yĕrĕkh and tÿrkĕli are the same spirit with different names or two different spirits. Sometimes, in addition, these spirits were considered patrons of the family clan or images of ancestors and were called mănakka, kinemey, ĕmpichche. But in any case, it was believed that for their disrespectful attitude towards them, these spirits could send skin, eye diseases, and tumors to people. They sacrificed money, porridge, cookies, and occasionally slaughtered a ram.
Yĕrĕkh could be depicted as a bundle of branches, a small figurine made of clay, wood or metal, a doll in a Chuvash outfit.
Tÿrkĕli most often did not have any incarnation at all, or it was also a small doll. Sometimes this was the name of a surpan and a small bag, a bucket or a box, suspended in a barn, where sacrificial money was put.
When enough of them were collected, animals were bought on them and chak was made.
The tradition of making small figurines of deities or images of ancestors from metal or clay dates back several thousand years and existed among many peoples of the globe.
In the new houses of the Chuvash, there is already a modern atmosphere. Many collective farmers have bookcases and wardrobes, radios, a large number of indoor plants * tulle curtains on the windows, embroidered rugs on the walls. The interior of the house gradually takes on the appearance of a city apartment. The front corner is decorated with a good picture or family photographs. In the kitchen, although a hanging cauldron remains obligatory, a stove is often arranged on the hearth and food is cooked in pots, which the Chuvash did not have before.
In addition to a residential building and a barn, which was almost always combined with a house under one roof, the Chuvash manor housed log buildings for livestock, sheds, a barn for storing grain, sometimes a bathhouse * and also a lad - a typical Chuvash building that served as a summer kitchen and a place to make beer.
The cage was built of thick logs, on chairs, like houses, with a good floor and ceiling, but no windows. The roof protruded over the frame * forming a canopy. Before entering the cage there was a wide porch up to 0.5 m high, sometimes with two steps.
Barns were often made similar in type to the barn, but they were divided by a log partition into two rooms with separate entrances. In one of them, stocks of grain were stored in barrels and tubs, in the other - household utensils, harness, etc.
Las is a small building made of thin logs or slabs, without a ceiling and windows. The roof is gabled, made of shingles or tess, and often one slope was made higher than the other, so that cracks were obtained for smoke to escape. The floor is earthen. Inside is an open hearth with a hanging cauldron. Along the walls there are low earthen bunks, sheathed on the front side with boards or beams. Various household utensils were stored on the bunks and shelves. Some families had a low wooden table in one of the corners, at which they ate in the summer, sitting on the bunk. This building, apparently, was a relic of an ancient Chuvash dwelling, like the "kudo" of the Mari and the "kuala" of the Udmurts.
As already noted, in the new estates, the number of outbuildings has sharply decreased, even the crate disappears, being replaced by a closet in the hallway of the house *
The yard is a continuation of a person's dwelling. This is his own territory, but where, in addition to him, his pets live, his assistants are stored - tools and food supplies. And the life of the court has its own rules, followed by the spirit of the court.
Yard arrangement. According to Chuvash traditions, all lands belonging to one family were divided into several parts, mainly these were:
1. Yard with a house and various outbuildings (kil karti).
2. Barn (current) (yĕtem, avănkarti) - a place for processing grain crops.
3. Vegetable garden (pahcha).
4. Arable land (ana).
In ancient times, the yard was located separately from the garden and the threshing floor. The kitchen gardens were closer to the river, so that it was convenient to water, and the threshing floor was right in the field or on the edge of the village. Baths were set up near the river.
Later, these parts were united, and the Chuvash estate began to be divided into two halves: the front and back yard. The front yard (kil karti) housed the house and the main outbuildings. In the back yard (ankarti) there was a garden-garden (pakhcha), a threshing floor (yĕtem), a bathhouse (muncha) were also located there.
The courtyard could be of any shape, not necessarily square. The old Chuvash yard was large and could accommodate several modern village yards. Such a large size was needed for work, especially with horses. It was necessary that several wagons could drive into the yard and turn around.
According to the ancient Chuvash tradition, the house was located in the center of a large spacious courtyard, around at a certain distance from each other there were outbuildings. The Chuvash tried in every possible way to keep the trees in their yards and plant new ones. This decorated the yard and to some extent saved from fires. Nests and birdhouses for songbirds were specially arranged on the trees.
According to some legends, there were underground passages in the courtyards of rich Chuvashs.
Sometimes the yard was paved - completely covered with stone, hewn logs, or paths were laid out so that one could walk in the autumn mud without getting one's feet dirty. In the summer the yard was overgrown with grass. Many researchers noted the special order, cleanliness and comfort of the Chuvash court.
Outbuildings. As ethnographers of past centuries noted, the households of rich and poor Chuvash differed only in the number of buildings in the yard. These include: a barn - outbuildings, sometimes united by one roof; ampar (usually two-storied) and kĕlet - rooms for storing things, some tools, stocks of grain and other products, as well as for living in the summer; laç - a room for cooking in the summer, making beer, washing and other needs; nyakhrep - a cellar, an underground room for food storage; vite - a barn, a room for pets; păltăr - extension to the house; muncha - bath; aslăk - a shed in a shed for storing tools.
In the warm season, the Chuvash moved to live in summer dwellings - cages, second floors of barns, and each family, especially newlyweds, had its own room. In summer, food was cooked in laçi, only bread was baked in the house. Thus, for the Chuvash, the concept of "house" is not only a hut, but the whole yard, the whole household.
Mari and Udmurts had similar yards. It is possible that such arrangement of yards has been going on since the ancient Bulgarian times.
The yards of the Russian population were much smaller in size. Often outbuildings were located very close to the house, and the whole yard was covered with one roof, which could be removed in summer to dry the yard. So arranged courtyards are still preserved in the city of Cheboksary, since Russians lived in the cities of Chuvashia until the 20th century.
The large size of the yard, its landscaping, special summer dwellings - all this indicates that once the ancestors of the Chuvash lived to the south, in a warmer climate, in the steppe or forest-steppe expanses.
A small yard, a hut as the only dwelling, the virtual absence of trees in the yard and in the villages shows that the ancestors of Russians in ancient times lived in areas overgrown with forests, where they had to “fight” with it, freeing up space for settlements.
Fences, gates. In ancient times, to protect against wild animals and robbers, the Chuvash yard was necessarily fenced with tall, pointed oak logs (tĕkme). They were dug into the ground close to each other around the entire courtyard, leaving room for the gate.
Other types of fences were used to protect crops or young trees from pets.
The poles for the fence were always placed with the butt down, and during repairs, when the lower part of the pole rotted, in no case could it be turned over.
Spirits of the courtyard. In addition to outbuildings, in the courtyard there was a special fenced place kĕlĕilen (mănkĕlĕ), where sacrificial animals were slaughtered. Cattle and children were not allowed into this place, and the adults themselves once again tried not to trample on the kĕlĕilen. After the animal was slaughtered, its blood was released to the ground, and left there - this was the share of the spirit of kĕlĕilen.
Probably, in ancient times, the Chuvash in the place of kĕlĕilen always had a sacred tree chÿkiyvaçe, at the foot of which the ashes of the burnt sacrifice were poured.
The ancient Chuvashs believed that every yard has its own owner - the spirit of the yard. It could be called differently: turri map, khuçi map, puçĕ map, sykhchi map, kĕtÿçĕ map, yrri map, kĕli map, yyshĕ map. All these names are the name of the same spirit. It was believed that every building can have its own master-spirits: kĕletriyră - the good spirit of the cellar, nyahrepkĕli - the spirit-prayer of the cellar, vitekhuçi (vuçni) - the spirit-owner of the stable, shed iyi - the spirit of the shed. Chÿk was made to these spirits so that they would keep order in the yard and the building, and also help the owners keep their pets. For example, it was believed that the spirit of the stable had his favorite horses and he additionally feeds them, cleans them and braids their manes.
The continuation of the human habitat after the house and the yard was a settlement, a village. This territory was usually limited to the share of a person in the surrounding space. This situation was typical for all the peoples inhabiting the Volga region. And already outside its territory, a person had to obey only the laws of nature.
Location and arrangement of settlements.
Chuvash villages were located near a river or lake, there was usually a forest nearby and always a spring with clean water.
The Chuvash put their houses in the most convenient places, surrounded by buildings and fences. After the son's marriage, a house was built for the young family right there in the yard, but when there was already little space, a new yard was built for other families next to the parent one. So gradually, more and more new ones were attached to the very first courtyard, other relatives settled nearby, their grown children, so the village grew.
The streets and passages in the Chuvash village seemed confusing and incomprehensible to a stranger. And this served as a certain protection against thieves and robbers.
From the 70s of the XIX century, by order of the government, the streets in all villages gradually began to be made straight, the size of the yards decreased, the houses were not placed in the center of the yard, but “faced” on the street. This was necessary due to the lack of land for new yards. And, of course, it was much more convenient for officials to keep records of the population. But the Chuvash have always strived to adhere to their ancient traditions and sometimes they set up houses, retreating into the depths of the courtyard or turning the house with a blank wall (without windows) towards the street. Until now, in the Chuvash villages there are such old houses.
The Chuvashs were distinguished by a special love for trees and tried to plant them in their settlements wherever possible.
Researchers of past centuries wrote that the Chuvash village can be immediately recognized from afar - it was distinguished by its landscaping. Trees were planted near houses, ravines, on the street, in wastelands. Young seedlings were wrapped in pieces of bark, fenced off so that animals would not poison them, and they were carefully looked after.
The streets of the Chuvash villages were kept clean and tidy. Each owner cleaned the territory adjacent to his yard. There was practically no garbage left in the peasant economy, but if this happened, then it was not thrown out into the street, but carried into a deep ravine.
In the summer, the streets were overgrown with grass, barefoot, without fear of injuring their feet, children ran along it, calves grazed ...
Springs and wells. Near each village there were necessarily springs. They were equipped and kept clean and tidy. In addition to springs, water could be taken from wells (pusă). Where possible, wells were arranged right in the yard.
Like most peoples of the Volga region, several types of wells were arranged.
Fencing. In ancient times, the Chuvash fenced not only every yard, but the entire village. According to scientists, the custom of enclosing the entire village has been preserved since the time when the ancestors of the Chuvash, defending themselves from enemy attacks, erected fortress walls, ramparts and ditches around their settlements.
The Chuvashs fenced their villages with a high log fence - a palisade (tĕkme) from wild animals and robbers.
Well digging scheme. The log house began to be installed from above. This prevented the collapse of the earth.
Later, they began to make a fence of poles (vĕrlĕk karta).
In the outskirts (the fence that surrounded the village) they arranged a gate (yal khaphi). Around them, old men or boys were usually on duty - they opened and closed the gates. For those on duty, “guardhouses” were often arranged - small log houses, in which, on winter evenings, men often gathered to talk about this and that ...
In some villages and in our time, you can see such gates or their remains.
Cemeteries. In ancient times, cemeteries (çăva, masar, upamăr, vilĕkarti) were located on the western side of the village, across the river or ravine. And at the funeral it was necessary to cross this river, the ravine. This is connected with ideas about the transition of the deceased to another world. The river or ravine was a symbol of this other world.
Cemeteries were also surrounded by a ditch or furrow through which its inhabitants could not cross. This enclosing of the cemetery also meant giving the world of the dead its own sacred territory. According to ancient traditions, nothing could be taken out of the cemetery.
It was believed that the cemetery has its own spirit, looking after the order - masarpuçlăhĕ, çăvapuçlăhĕ, usually it was the person who was the first to be buried in this cemetery.
In each village there is a school, a reading room, a first-aid post, and in many villages there is a village club or house of culture, a hospital, one or more shops, in some - public baths. The outbuildings of the collective farm are mostly located on the outskirts; these are premises for livestock, storage for grain, silos, grain dryers, etc. In many villages, water pumps have been built that supply water from wells and other reservoirs, standpipes have been installed, and water towers have been installed in large villages. All this significantly changed the appearance of the settlements.
In a number of villages there are bakeries, canteens, sewing workshops, shoe repair, hairdressers, photographs and other consumer services enterprises. Sidewalks began to be made in large settlements, flower beds were arranged near public buildings. Chuvash villages are distinguished by an abundance of greenery.
In recent years, in many state farms and enlarged collective farms, the restructuring of settlements according to the general plan has begun. New construction is associated with the redevelopment of old settlements or their expansion. In district centers, where there is a large population not directly related to agriculture (employees, workers), urban-type apartment buildings are being built, more often two-story.
According to the 1959 census, 26% of the population of the Chuvash ASSR (267,749 people) lives in towns and urban-type settlements. There are currently seven cities, of which Cheboksary, Alatyr, Tsivilsk and Yadrin were founded in the 16th century, and Kanash and Shumerlya turned into cities already in Soviet times due to the development of industry. Now there are six urban-type settlements in Chuvashia: Kozlovka, Kirya, Vurnary, Ibresi, Buinsk, Urmary.
During the Soviet period, the city of Cheboksary, the capital of the republic, grew especially. Before the October Revolution, there were only about 5 thousand inhabitants in it, and according to the 1959 census, more than 104 thousand people are registered in Cheboksary. Now Cheboksary is a modern city with high-rise buildings and various utilities. A satellite city is being built not far from Cheboksary. Large construction is also underway in Kanash, Shumerl and Alatyr, although there are still many rural-type buildings in them. The rest of the cities and workers' settlements consist mainly of small one- and two-story houses and outwardly resemble large villages. Among the inhabitants of the new cities there are many Chuvashs, mostly recent peasants who have now become workers.
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